Apples will grow in clay soil.
Apples and crabapples, aspen and cottonwood, elms, silver maples, lindens and willows are just some of the trees that grow comfortably in clay soil. Nevertheless, clay is not the preferred soil because of its lack of air spaces and the hardness that makes it difficult to till. To improve clay soil, some gardeners add gypsum, but this practice is highly controversial because of potential detrimental environmental effects, and gypsum's failure to improve the soil's water-holding capacity.
Gypsum
Gypsum specimens should not be added to soil.
Adding gypsum (calcium sulfate) to clay soil to break it up is a traditional garden practice, but there is a growing movement to discourage it because it's not effective in breaking down some kinds of clay soils. An equally strong consideration is that adding gypsum can cause negative effects to the overall ecosystem. Gypsum has never been scientifically linked to an improvement in soil fertility or pH balance.
Problems
A tree's nutrients can be impacted by gypsum.
Gypsum can heighten leaching of aluminum that contaminates watersheds, and it can have a negative effect on the tree's ability to secure certain nutrients from the soil, such as iron and manganese. Furthermore, any positive effect it might have on breaking up the clay soil is short-lived, lasting just a few months at most.
Tips
Willow trees will grow in clay soil.
To grow trees in clay soil, plant late in the autumn when the soil is driest. Add plenty of organic matter, such as manure and composted bark, to break down the clay, and continue this process for several years. Don't add gravel, however, since that will actually make the soil less fertile. The same can be said for working fine sands into the soil.
Exception
Raised garden beds provide a way around clay soil problems.
There are some geographic areas, however, where gypsum is sometimes effective in breaking down clay soil. This occurs in the coastal Southeast and extremely dry Southwest part of the United States. That's because the soil in both these locations is low in calcium and high in salt, so gypsum helps bring the clay soil parts together to form larger pore spaces. In these areas, however, many gardeners avoid the potential harm of adding gypsum by creating raised beds full of compost and topsoil, and planting trees in these special areas.
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